#68 Chanting H Sound

Make the sound H and concentrate on the end of the sound. As the mind will be without support, one will permanently touch God.

Verse 91, Vigyan Bhairava Tantra

Visarga Sound

The sound h is the visarga, an alphabet in Sanskrit symbolized by the two of a colon. It is not a full h sound, it is more like a half h sound. The h is slightly suppressed. This sound should also be made while breathing out.

How to do this technique

• Make the sound h as you breathe out.
• Then breathe in again and make the sound h as you breathe out.
• The sound can be chanted out loud or said in the mind.
• Concentrate on the end of the sound.
• The sound h is a subtle sound that ends suddenly. It requires a higher level of awareness to notice it. Concentrating on the end of this sound immediately increases our level of awareness. As the mind will be without support, one will permanently touch God.

This meditation is similar to the previous one. Chanting a sound stops the mind from thinking. Particularly a sound like h, which requires a higher level of awareness to notice its end. The mind needs thoughts for support. It needs thoughts to survive. When the mind stops thinking, it collapses like a house of cards. It disappears, and then one permanently rests in God. This meditation and the previous one have many practical benefits. They can be practiced when one is tense or angry. They immediately calm you down. You may face a situation in life, which makes you very tense or angry. You may have had a minor car accident, which was not your fault. Someone may have spoken to you and been very rude to you. You keep thinking about these events, sometimes hours after they have occurred. Your mind keeps racing away, and your blood pressure keeps rising. In these circumstances, the best way to calm yourself down is to chant a sound. It immediately stops your mind from thinking. When your mind stops thinking, you automatically become peaceful. Taka a deep breath in and while breathing out, chant either h or aaa . . . There is a similar breathing technique in yoga called Bhramari, where instead of h or a, one make a continuous humming sound (like a bee), while breathing out. That too can be used in these situations. In these tense situations, the mind races out of control. When you chant a sound, you instantly block out the mind. The mind stops thinking, and you become calm.